Device for continuous treatment of strands



Aug. .21, 1962 w. E. TRAGERT 3,

DEVICE FOR CONTINUOUS TREATMENT OF STRANDS Filed March 16, 1960 I r1 verate 2-.- 46 Wi/l/d m B. Trager-z;

, W y is A tor'ne y.

3,d,267 Patented Aug. 21, 1952 lee 3,050,267 DEVICE FOR CONTINUOUSTREATMENT OF STRANDS William E. Tragert, Scotia, N.Y., assignor toGeneral Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 16, 1960,Ser. No. 15,493 6 Claims. (Cl. 242-471) This invention relates to adevice for the continuous treatment of strands, and more particularly,to a multiple-skewed roller helical winding and unwinding apparatus forsubmersed treatment of strand material.

The term strand as employed in this specification is intended to includeall forms of material such as, for example, sheet, filamentary, ribbon,wire, etc., i.e., those materials which may be easily wound and unwoundfrom spools. In many instances, such material is subjected to chemicaltreatment which may require submersion for extended periods of time in achemical bath. For example, elongated ribbon-like forms of aluminum maybe required to be anodized before becoming the desired and finishedarticle. Anodization, oxidation, and other such types of treatmentgenerally include submersion for extensive periods of time. Usually, thematerial is unwound from a spool, fed into a bath or solution,withdrawn, and rewound on an additional spool. However, where thechemical treatment requires, for example, to 30 minutes, difficultiesare encountered in maintaining the submerged condition over such aperiod of time where continuous operation and high output is desired.Secondly, in order to obtain the required submersion time, chemicalbaths are very large, extensive, and space consuming. These baths maythen be necessarily equipped with a'plurality of rolls. The submersionof a plurality of rolls then introduces problems of maintaining thestrand on the rolls at all times, maintaining proper strand position inthe bath, suitably supporting the strand with little tension, and theproblem of introducing and withdrawing such a strip after having passedabout a plurality of rolls in the submerged condition without damage. Itwould be desirable to have a simple, easily adjustable and economicaldevice which would maintain various strands in the submerged conditionover extended periods of time while yet maintaining strands separate, inproper position within the bath, and including, to utilize only minimumspace.

It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide an improvedstrand feeding device.

It is another object of this invention to provide a continuous treatmentdevice for maintaining a strand in a submerged condition over extendedperiods of time.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a helical storingand advancing strand winding device for strand material to maintain thestrands in the submerged condition over extended periods of time.

It is another object of this invention to provide a helical strandwinding device occupying a minimum space.

It is another object of this invention to provide an improved adjustablehelical roller-operated strand treating and winding device.

It is another object of this invention to provide a helical strandwinding and unwinding device easily adjustable for strands of variousdimensions with minimum edge stress of the strand.

Briefly described this invention includes a plurality of driven rollerssupported and positioned to define a general cylindrical structure withtheir longitudinal axes substantially parallel to the axis of thecylindrical structure. The rollers are independently driven and areangularly adjustable to be skewed relative to the longitudinal axis ofthe cylindrical structure so that a strip will be helically woundthereabout.

This invention will be better understood when taken in connection withthe following description and the drawing in which;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one preferred embodiment of thisinvention;

FIG. 2 is a partial view of the connecting shaft maintaining the endplates of FIG. 1 in position;

FIG. 3 is a partial view illustrating roller mounting; and

FIG. 4 is a front elevation view of the embodiment of FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a helical strand device 10which incorporates the features of the invention just described. In FIG.1 apparatus 10 includes a pair of end members, supports or plates 11 and11'. Members 11 and 11 are supported and maintained in their spacedapart relationship by means of a central shaft 12 which under certainconditions permits limited rotational adjustment of members 11 and 11'.

FIG. 2 illustrates one member 11 being supported by shaft 12 and isexemplary of the support arrangement for member 11' also. Shaft 12includes a shoulder portion 13 at each end thereof formed by a threadedturned down portion or extension 14. Member 11 contains a centralopening 15 through which is inserted the extension 14- of shaft 12.Member 11 therefore abuts against shoulder 13 of shaft 12 and isthereafter maintained in this position by means of washer 16 and nut 17.A plurality of roller elements or shafts are positionedcircumferentially within and concentric with members 11 and 11' withtheir longitudinal axes parallel to the axes of shaft 12. Rollerelements 18 must be maintained in their described position in such amanner that either end may be partly moved in a circumferential mannerwith respect to the other end. In order to provide this motion, eachelement 18 is positioned within the disks 11 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, one of said end members, for example, 11' includesa circumferential row of tapered openings 19 tapering from a smallersize opening 21 to a larger size opening 21. The other end member 11includes a circumferential row of tapered recesses or pivots 22. Eachelement 18 is positioned and maintained in a pivot 22 and opening 21.Element 18 includes a tapered or frustoconical portion 23 of a somewhatless taper than the taper of pivot 22 in order to form in the firstinstance a pivot type bearing and also to permit rocking of element 18in the pivot. To maintain the other end of element 18 in opening 21 in afixed position and to prevent longitudinal sliding thereof, each element18 includes a lock-set device 24 and a spring 25. Spring 25 may be ofvarious well-known types, for example, of the Bellevue washer type andengages disk 11' and the lock set device 24 to maintain a biasing forcetherebetween. It is obvious from this arrangement that, assuming disk 11to be stationary, that disk 11 may be rotated about its longitudinalaxes or shaft 12 and that the combination of spring 25 and taperedopening 19 permits element 18 to follow this movement. At the same time,tapered portion 23 being smaller than pivot 22 in member 11 also permitselement 18 to rock about this center point. Rocking will thus skewelements 18 from their initial center line AA to line AA as illustrated.This form of rocking action then provides for the maintenance of allelements 18 in a generally parallel relationship to each other, but atthe same time elements 18 may be skewed such that their longitudinalaxes will not be parallel to the longitudinal axes of shaft 12. This mayalso be described by saying that the ends of the roller elements 18 moveover an arcuate path for adjustment. This adjustment is accomplishedmerely by loosening nut 17, FIG. 2, on shaft 12, rotating one of thedisks 11 or 11 with respect to the other, and retightening nut 17 whichin this instance operates as a friction lock. While this description hasdescribed a particular mounting means, it is obvious that other mountingmeans well known in the art may be employed. Specifically, for example,pivot bearing assembly and the tapered opening assembly may be replacedby an adjustable, flexible or otherwise self-aligning bearing. Theadjustment as described will, however, in addition to rocking elements18 out of parallelism with shaft 12, also tend to form a conicalprojection of elements 18. This tendency is minimized by the describedarrangement to the extent that it is negligible.

In an anodizing operation, for example, of a strand material in the formof thin aluminum foil, tension on the foil must be kept to a minimum toavoid breakage during the anodization process, and more importantly,edge stresses must be substantially eliminated or minimized to preventwrinkling or tearing. Therefore, provision is made to rotate each of theelements 18, although, of course, it is to be understood that a lessernumber may be rotated if desirable. In this respect each element 18projects through disk 11 to have upon the end portion thereof drivingmeans 26. Each of the drive means 26 then may be rotated by anyarrangement well known in the art such as straight gearing, frictiondrive, or flexible drive, and in the illustrated embodiment of thisinvention, drive means 26 is in the form of a sprocket 27 which is to bedriven by a continuous link belt or chain 28. Electric motor driveassembly 29 is employed for motive power although it is to be understoodthat this apparatus may be connected to any primary source of power ortake-01f units. Motor assembly 29 is afi'ixed to disk 11' by means ofelongated studs 30, and operates, when connected to a suitable source ofelectrical power, not shown, to rotate a sprocket gear 31. Link belt orchain 28 is positioned about all of gears 26 so as to also pass inwardlyand around gear 31. It is thus understood that operation of the motorassembly 29 turns gear 31 and through the medium of the chain 30 rotatesall elements 18 in synchronism.

This apparatus may be employed in conjunction with a fluid bath invarious positions. For example, the unit may be mounted eitherhorizontally or vertically in the submerged condition or extend throughthe sides of a tank, for example, where the motor drive and chainassembly may be part of the external configuration of the bath. Inoperation the assembly is adjusted to skew elements 18, and a strip ofmaterial, for example aluminum foil, is fed circumferentially aboutelements 18 at one end of the unit and thereafter the foil will be fedin a helical path depending upon the skew relationship of elements 18 tobe then Withdrawn at the far end. It is obvious that a considerablelength of foil may be maintained in the anodizing bath for prolongedperiods of time depending upon the rotational speed of elements 18. Thefact that the elements remain substantially in parallelism reduces, to agreat extent, edge stresses in the helical form.

In order to facilitate the initial feeding of the strand, a feedingdevice is employed in conjunction with this apparatus. Referring to FIG.4, there is illustrated the apparatus 10 in a fluid bath or tank 46.While the complete assembly 10 is illustrated as within the tank 46, it

is obvious to those skilled in the art that various parts be parallel tothe longitudinal axes of the first element 18 over which the foil strip33 passes. This arrangement enables the foil strip 33 to conform to thehelix dictated by the skew with a minimum of lateral stress.

In order to initially attach the foil strip strand to the helicaldevice, one suitable means includes a band 37, more particularly of anelastic material and joined as at 38 with any suitable connector 38. Thestarting edge 39 of the foil strip is attached to the connector 38.Thereafter upon rotation of the device the elastic band 37 moveshelically along the device while at the same time carrying with it thealuminum foil strip 33. Upon reaching one extreme of the device the band37 is removed and the end 39 of the foil may then be attached to asuitable winding spool.

The final wind-up spool may also be part of the apparatus and in oneembodiment of the invention as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4 as 40. Spool40 is positioned upon a shaft 41 and together with support members 42and 43 is suitably supported from the device 10. An extension of shaft41 carries suitable drive means, for example, pulley 44. A furtherpulley 45 is positioned upon one of elements 18 and a belt betweenpulleys 44 and 45 operates to revolve spool 40 at the same rotationalspeed as that of elements 18.

It is apparent that small misalignments of elements 18, i.e., deviationfrom initial parallelism, is of no serious consequence in the operationof this machine because the lateral displacement of the strip is theresult of the combined lateral frictional force of all roller elements18. The total displacement per turn thus becomes the same, regardless ofalignment, and the turns of the helix are maintained parallel.

This apparatus permits extended lengths of strands to be maintained in asubmerged condition in various chemical processes for extended periodsof time. By'means of the plurality of circumferential positionedrollers, a greater length strip may also be submerged with only aminimum volume or space required. The apparatus obviates the necessityof duplicating various pairs of adjustable rollers and the inherentproblems of skew adjustment. Skew may thus be adjusted or varied for aseries of rollers at one time and with one adjustment. The parallelismof roller elements 18 together with the skew adjustment between a greatnumber of such elements permit the device to be operated and adjustedfor strands of various dimensions including, for example, ribbons offoil having a very low tensile strength.

Where skewed rollers have been extensively used in the filament art,they have not been adapted to metallic foil n'bbon or strip because ofthe fact that the helix employed imposes severe edge stresses on thinfoil. Without such an apparatus as disclosed in this invention such athin strip of foil would necessarily require various mechanicalapparatuses to maintain long lengths submerged in a large tank and toeffectively support it, at times without a wiping action. A 3 mil thickaluminum foil 1 inch wide has been taken off such an apparatus at therate of 9 feet per minute after anodizing in a chemical bath. The finalresult is a strip of material free of wrinkles, dents, and bumps whichwould otherwise appear in strips from prior apparatus.

The important features of this invention, i.e., a plurality of rollingelements circumferentially supported and arcuately skewed in unison hasbeen described in relatron to one assembly or structure therefor. Itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modificationsof this apparatus and method are contemplated to be within the scope ofthis invention. It is, there-fore, intended that the following claimsinclude such modifications within the inventive scope thereof.

What I claim as new and dmired to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. A continuous helical strand winding and unwinding apparatuscomprising in combination, a pair of support means, a plurality ofroller elements supported by said support means to define a generallycylindrical structure, means pivotally connecting said roller elementsto said suppOrt means to provide for rotation of said elements abouttheir longitudinal axis and skewing action thereof, adjusting meanscausing arcuate motion of one of said support means relative to theother of said support means to skew roller elements circumferentiallyout of parallelism with the longitudinal axis of said cylindricalstructure, and means for rotating said roller elements in synchronism tohelically wind a strand thereon.

2. A helical Winding and unwinding apparatus comprising in combination,a pair of end members, a plurality of roller elements supported by saidend members to define a generally cylindrical cage structure, meanspivotally connecting said roller elements to said end members to providefor rotation of said elements about their longitudinal axis andcircumferential skewing action thereof, adjusting means causing limitedarcuate rotation of one of said end members about the longitudinal axisof the said cylindrical cage structure relative to the other of said endmembers to skew said elements circumferentially out of parallelism withsaid cylindrical structure, and means to drive said roller elements insynchronism to Wind a strand thereon.

3. A helical winding and unwinding apparatus comprising in combination,a shaft, a pair of end frame members positioned at each end of saidshaft, a plurality of roller elements positioned circumferentiallybetween said frame members to provide a cylindrical cage structure,self-aligning bearing means positioning said roller elements on saidframe members, a driving element on each of said rotating elements,drive means driving each of said elements for synchronous rotation towind a strand helically thereon, and means providing limited rotation ofone of said frame members on said shaft relative to the other ofsaidframe members to circumferentially skew said roller elements.

4. A helical winding and unwinding apparatus comprising in combination,a shaft, a pair of end frame members concentrically positioned at eachend of said shaft, a plurality of roller elements positionedcircumferentially between said frame members to provide a cylindricalstructure, pivot means positioning each end of said rotating elements insaid frame members, drive means positioned on each element, meansproviding limited rotation of one of said frame members with respect tothe other of said frame member to thereby circumferentially skew saidroller elements, flexible drive means interconnecting said driveelements for rotation thereof in synchronism, means to feed a strand ofmaterial to said rotating elements for helical winding thereon, saidmeans including a spool positioned with its axis parallel to the axis ofa rotating element first receiving said strand.

5. The invention as claimed in claim 3 including means to take ofistrand from said apparatus, said means including a spool having its axisparallel with the last element to engage said strand.

6. A continuous helical metallic ribbon Winding and unwinding apparatusto maintain a strand submerged in a fluid bath condition for treatmentthereof comprising in combination, a pair of spaced apart end members,at least 4 rolling elements positioned between said end members todefine a cylindrical cage structure means pivotally connecting saidroller elements to each of said end members for rotation about theirlongitudinal axis and circumferential skewing about the longitudinalaxis of said cage structure, means causing arcuate motion of one saidend members with respect to the other of said end members to skew saidelements, drive means connected to each of said elements, a flexibledriving element interconnecting each of said drive means to rotate saidroller elements in synchronism, a feeding spool of metallic ribbonpositioned cooperatively with said apparatus and having its longitudinalaxis parallel with the first roller element to engage said ribbon forwinding said ribbon helically thereon, a winding spool to wind saidmetallic ribbon after treatment in said bath, said winding spool havingit longitudinal axis parallel to the last of said roller elementsengaging said ribbon, and drive means interconnecting said winding spooland one of said roller elements for synchronous rotation of said spool.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,037,421 Littler Apr. 14, 1936 2,652,350 Dailey Sept. 15, 19532,701,717 Morrill Feb. 8, 1955 2,781,894 Covington Feb. 19, 19572,963,233 Riegler Dec. 6, 1960

